Welcome

Over the past three years we have been gathering information on different historical periods as well as different living history/reenacting portrayals.  We hope the Reenactors Network blog is a useful resource for reenactors and living historians to learn about different historical periods and other historical related topics that are different from what they are interested and currently portray .  While exploring Reenactors Network you will find articles on reenacting/living history, historical topics, archeology, fashion, poetry, period music, folklore, book reviews and much more.   We will try to update this blog as much as we can to at least once a month.  If an article does not appear for a month please be patient if there is not an updated article.  We have busy lives and things keep on coming up.

~ thank you for your patience!

Reenacting Weekender

Not quite sure when and where things are happening.  Would really truly enjoy this reenacting/living history season if you knew when things were happening?  Would like to know if their are any big reenactments happening this year & when?  Getting tired of missing out on all the fun?

 If you answered yes to any of the following you will enjoy The Weekender.
The Weekender is a new section that can only be found through Capturing History.

Subscribe to Capturing History Today!

 

 

 

Moving!!!

Dear Fans & Friends,

I found that there was no way for me to keep up with four blogs and making sure each one was continually updated every month. So I moved all my blogs into one centralized location.

Reenactors Gazette unfortunately will be a holding place for all old entries that will not appear on the new site. Hope to see you at the new location =>”Capturing History“!

Thanks for your continue support!

D Day recalled by Veterans

Though D-Day was 67 years ago today, World War II veterans Tracy Sugarman and Walter Blum remember the historic events of that day like it was yesterday. Sugarman was an ensign in U.S. Naval Reserve. His unit’s mission on the day allied forces invaded Normandy, France was to transport men, supplies and vehicles to the invasion beaches.

He remembers that everyone was seasick as they circled to land on the beach. He told CBS News, “We started to get closer and see what was happening, and there were boats, they were blown up, and there were bodies in the water and it was very noisy and you could smell cordite and it was chaos – it was just chaos.”

Blum was just 18 years old on D-Day. He was an Army private in the 1st Engineering Brigade. His unit invaded Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. His role was to deactivate mines and pave the way for American forces to move in… read on!

via: cbsnews.com

Historical Cooking

Recently the Living History Podcast posted a podcast all about creating meals as a way to engage the public.  Reenactors Gazette has been to several living history events where food demos have been the source of educating people, but lately many of the events we’ve gone to; the reenactors are loosing that interaction and seem to have a difficult time engaging and interacting with the public.

Question: How does your group interact with the public?  Do you agree or disagree with our observation?  If you agree how can the living history community change the way we are perceived by the public?

In continuing with this week’s subject.  The following podcast Alena will discuss…. • Food is relatable to wide audiences  • Raw ingredient choices  • Historical cooking methods  • Cooking tools  • Recipes and food presentation  • what food can tell us about culture  * click here to listen!

If cooking is one of your interests or favorite past times here are a few books you may be interested in…
The Virginia Housewife => by: Mary Randolph
The Carolina Housewife => by: Sarah Rutledge
The Williamsburg Art of Cookery => by: Helen Bullock
Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop => by: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats => by: Karen Hess
Log Cabin Cooking: Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore => by: Barbara Swell
Civil War Recipes: Receipts from the Pages of Godey’s Lady’s Book => by: by John Spaulding
A Taste of Ancient Rome => by: Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa
Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome => by: Patrick Faas
Meals and Recipes from Ancient Greece => by: Eugenia Ricotti
Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today => by: Sally Grainger
Medieval Cookbook => by: Maggie Black
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry in Maryland => by: Frederick Philip Stieff

Zebulon Vance Birthplace budget Victim

WEAVERVILLE — The Zebulon Vance Birthplace is among eight historic sites that may close if proposed budget cuts make their way through the state legislature today, according to state officials.

Gov. Bev Perdue’s proposed budget already calls for a significant cut, but a budget proposal in the state House adds another $1.2 million in reductions. That means the N.C. Division of State Historic Sites faces cuts totaling 30 percent, according to Maryanne Friend, assistant secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, which oversees the state’s 24 historic sites… read on!

via: citizen-times.com

Reliving the 1700s in America

The American Civil War, always a topic of great interest, is even more in people’s minds these days because of the 150th anniversary of its commencement. There wasn’t much hoopla about the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War, was there? Few people know much about it.

William T. Johnson, co-founder of J.B. Solomon Editions, the enterprising small press in Alliance, knows a lot. His book With Sacred Honor, available in four installments as downloads for the Kindle device, couldn’t be more realistic.

A naturalist, park ranger and director of Native American cultures at a Boy Scout camp, Johnson also is a French and Indian War re-enactor. With Sacred Honoris narrated by Solomon, the fictional Mohican for whom the publisher is named. Solomon lives with his grandmother and sister in the mission village of Stockbridge, Mass. Some other Indians, like a visiting Mohawk youth, scoff at the Stockbridge villagers because they make trade goods instead of being full-time warriors…. read on!

via: Ohio.com

Patriots Day

Many of us here in Billerica and throughout Massachusetts associate Patriots Day with the annual Boston Marathon.  But what is Patriots Day all about and how is it celebrated in the neighborhood towns of Concord and Lexington?

In reality Patriot’s Day is a special Massachusetts State holiday commemorating the opening battle of the American Revolution – April 19, 1775.  For the neighboring towns of Concord and Lexington, it is a weekend celebration.  There are also several events prior to the weekend and after the weekend held in Lexington, Concord, Bedford and Lincoln which commemorate and also help to explain the life and the dangers that our forefathers faced from the British.

This year’s events actually began on Saturday, April 9th, with the Bedford Pole Capping ceremony in Wilson Park in Bedford .  The event featured an all Minuteman parade and the capping of a liberty pole, followed by a visit by the British….. read on!

via:  Billericatownienews.com

236th Annual Patriot’s Day |  Preparing for Patriots Day |  Looking back |  Fickr Images

Marching Through Time

Weekend: April 16 – 17, 2011

Military Through the Ages or Marching Through Time explores different time periods via living history.  It is a great way for people who have an interest in more than one period to explore several time periods all at once.  Marching Through Time is an annual event that is held every third weekend in April at the Marietta House in Glenn Dale Maryland.

At this particular event it features living historians who relive and demonstration the life from the ancient Romans up to the Vietnam War.   Marietta House sets up the event so that people can explore various encampments and view battle tactics.  If you’re interested in this kind of event they typically happen during the spring and fall.

This past weekend was packed with living history events some that you’ve missed included the Battle of Petersburg, Marching Through Time,  Patriots Day and Musketeers at Historic Fort Mifflin.  To be sure to not miss any other reenacting and living history related events please continue to visit Reenactor’s List!

Articles + Images from event:  Marietta House | Out by Ten | Knights in Armor | Flickr #1 | Flickr #2 | Flickr #3 |
March Thru History

Celebrating the first shots of the CW

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Even before cannons sound to mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, tourism in this antebellum city where the conflict began is already booming. The thousands of re-enactors and visitors expected to arrive this weekend for Tuesday’s re-creation of the first shots of the war will simply add to what’s shaping up as one of the best tourism seasons in years.

“It’s going to be a big event. Anytime you have an event like that in a city the economic impact from hotels to restaurants to seeing other tourist sites is huge,” said Geoff Cipkala, a vice president of Gateway Hospitality that operates four Charleston area hotels. Katie Chapman of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau says hotels are crowded, but had no firm projection on how many people may be drawn by the anniversary events. Other draws this weekend include the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament.

Other major Civil War battlegrounds host yearly re-enactments that allow planners to project from past events, but it’s been years since the last big Civil War event in Charleston…. read on!

via: victoriaadvocate.com

Civil War medicine

The American Civil War often gets credit for ending slavery and reshaping the federal government in this country. But the War Between the States has another, often overlooked legacy: It may have started a new era in modern medicine. As soldiers fell in unprecedented numbers from both injuries and disease, anesthesia became a specialty. The fields of plastic and reconstructive surgery exploded. And doctors developed new ways to treat a surge in nerve injuries and chronic pain, marking the beginning of contemporary neurology.

At the same time, a visionary surgeon named Jonathan Letterman forever altered the flow of medical treatment from battlefield to hospital, said George Wunderlich, executive director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md. Now, 150 years later, Letterman’s basic principles continue to affect medical care in a wide range of situations, from bombings in Afghanistan to heart attacks in American grocery stores… read on!

via: news.discovery.com